Krypton Facts for Kids

The Periodic Table - Krypton
  • Name: Krypton
  • Symbol: Kr
  • Atomic Number: 36
  • Atomic Weight: 83.798 u
  • Period: 4
  • Group: 18 (noble gases group)

33 Krypton Facts for Kids

  1. Krypton is a chemical element on the periodic table.
  2. Krypton is a gas that is colorless and odorless.
  3. Krypton will emit a whitish glow when inside an electric field.
  4. Krypton is named after the Greek word “Krypto”, which translate to “hidden”.
  5. Krypton was discovered in 1898 by Scottish chemist William Ramsay and English chemist Morris Travers.
  6. William Ramsay received the Nobel Prize Chemistry in 1904 for his discovery of krypton and other noble gases.
  7. The symbol for krypton is Kr.
  8. The atomic number for krypton is 36.
  9. The standard atomic weight of krypton is 83.798 u.
  10. Krypton is a gas at room temperature.
  11. Krypton is in the noble gas element category on the periodic table.
  12. Krypton is a period 4 chemical element, which is the fourth row on the periodic table.
  13. Krypton is a group 18 chemical element, which is the noble gases group.
  14. Krypton is in the p-block on the periodic table.
  15. The electron configuration for krypton is [Ar] 3d10 4s2 4p6.
  16. The electrons per shell for krypton are 2, 8, 18, 8.
  17. Krypton has five stable isotopes.
  18. The five stable isotopes for krypton are 80Kr, 82Kr, 83Kr, 84Kr and 86Kr.
  19. The melting point for krypton is -251.27 °F (-157.37 °C).
  20. The boiling point for krypton is -244.147 °F (-153.415 °C).
  21. Krypton makes up around 0.000114% of the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere.
  22. Krypton is quite abundant in our universe, but it’s difficult to measure how abundant.
  23. Krypton is measured in our universe using solar winds and meteoric activity. Scientists are still unsure about how much krypton is in our universe, but initial measurements suggest its abundant.
  24. Krypton can be extracted from liquid air using a process known as fractional distillation.
  25. The rarity and expensive cost of krypton limits its commercial uses.
  26. Krypton can produce a brilliant white light and is great for photographic flashes for high speed photography.
  27. Fluorescent lamps can use a mixture of argon and krypton to reduce power consumption.
  28. A neon sign using krypton gas and mercury can produce a bright greenish-blue glow.
  29. Krypton is used as a propellant for the Hall-effect thruster (HET) on SpaceX Starlink satellites.
  30. Krypton-83 can be used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the respiratory system.
  31. Krypton-81 can be used to determine the age of ice in Antarctica. They compare the amount of krypton-81 in bubbles in the ice to the amounts in our atmosphere today. Based on the rate of decay they can determine how old the ice is.
  32. Governments can monitor the atmosphere for krypton-85 to detect secret nuclear weapons programs. Krypton-85 is released from facilities creating weapons-grade plutonium.
  33. Between 1960 and 1983, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures defined the length of a meter as 1,650,763.73 wavelengths of light emitted by the krypton-86 isotope.

Additional Resources on Krypton

  • Krypton (Kr) – Learn more about the chemical element krypton on the Los Alamos National Laboratory website.
  • Facts About Krypton – Find more facts about the chemical element krypton on the Live Science website.
  • Health Affects of Krypton – Learn about the health affects of krypton on the human body on the EPA website.
  • Krypton – Wikipedia – Discover more krypton facts, information and uses on the Wikipedia website.

About the author
Facts Editor

This is an author profile for articles that are created from a collaborative effort. It is not uncommon that articles on this site were either written, researched or fact checked by several authors and team members. So this author profile will be displayed to reflect that. Our team of editors, writers and fact checkers do extensive research before publishing articles on the site, and we do our best to provide the most accurate information possible.